Characterizing Argentinian Quartzite and Polish 'Chocolate' Flint for Sourcing Studies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The application of reflectance spectroscopy in sourcing studies of quartzite and flint illustrates the broad potential that the technique has in helping us explain human behavior using lithic provenance data. An ongoing line of research is to characterize tool stone used by prehistoric peoples in order to source artifacts back to known deposits. The large amount of visual, mineral, and chemical variability present in chert, flint, and quartzite is often problematic when identifying source. Geologic samples from multiple quartzite quarries in Argentina and ‘chocolate’ flint quarries in Poland are characterized using their atomic and molecular bond composition. Both examples demonstrate the future application of reflectance spectroscopy in provenance research where artifacts are sourced back to individual quarry sites or deposits on the landscape. The data will directly lead to a greater understanding of hunter-gatherer groups in South America and Mesolithic/Neolithic groups in Eastern Europe.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24635